Participatory Budgeting – Briefing Sheet

The national third-sector umbrella organisation Urban Forum has produced a useful briefing sheet based on the Government’s national strategy document for PB (Participatory Budgeting) for 2008 – 2011. It can be viewed or downloaded here.

Recipes for community representation – what ingredients do you need

27 January, BVSC, Birmingham.  Special events to discuss:

Click for details.

Urban Forum is collaborating with NAVCA to run a series of events to help voluntary and community groups to increase the effectiveness of community representation in their area.

The objectives of the events are for participants to gain an increased understanding of:

• The ingredients for effective community representation
• Different ways of organising community representation
• Ways forward to improve community representation in their area

Urban Forum presents “Fair Ground?”

FAIR GROUND ?

URBAN FORUM ANNUAL CONFERENCE 2008

8th-9th December 2008 – Manchester Conference Centre

Although we live in the 5th richest country in the world, 1 in 5 of people in the UK lives in poverty. Isn’t it time we got fair? Urban Forum’s Annual Conference, Fair Ground?, will put poverty and inequality firmly in the spotlight. Join us in Manchester on 8th and 9th December to debate, share experience and help create fair ground for the 21st Century.

This year’s theme will be explored in the usual variety of informative plenaries, debates, interactive research, and well as visits and workshops and, this year, theatre.

For more information see the FLYER AND BOOKING FORM via Urban Forum

Handy Hints for Community Engagement – Day 10

This is the last in a series of 10 daily “Handy Hints” for Effective Community Engagement prepared by the Urban Forum:

10. Have fun! Anything new can be scary but remember to have fun! Fun is not a swear word, and if you want people to get involved it’s got to appeal. After all, well-being is important to us all.

Handy Hints for Community Engagement – Day 9

This is the penultimate in a series of 10 daily “Handy Hints” for Effective Community Engagement prepared by the Urban Forum:

9. Be prepared to be unprepared! If you think you know exactly what’s going to happen, it’s probably not engagement. Don’t try to stifle or control the process too much. Be flexible and prepared to respond to what’s happening around you.

Handy Hints for Community Engagement – Day 8

This is the eighth in a series of 10 daily “Handy Hints” for Effective Community Engagement prepared by the Urban Forum:

8. Assess your goals at every stage. Keep asking yourself – is what we are trying to do realistic? Targets should be clear and achievable and have milestones along the way. But don’t be afraid to change direction as you go along if that makes more sense.

Handy Hints for Community Engagement – Day 7

This is the seventh in a series of 10 daily “Handy Hints” for Effective Community Engagement prepared by the Urban Forum:

7. make it meaningful. Remember that any plans you make should lead to action. Everyone gets bored of participating when nothing is actually happening. As people see things happening, confidence in the process will follow and soon there will be no holding them back!

Handy Hints for Community Engagement – Day 6

This is the sixth in a series of 10 daily “Handy Hints” for Effective Community Engagement prepared by the Urban Forum:

6. Have a Champion. The most successful strategies have someone – or often lots of people at different levels – pushing them forward who really believes in the cause. If community engagement is important, make sure it’s included as part of people’s roles.

Handy Hints for Community Engagement – Day 5

This is the fifth in a series of 10 daily “Handy Hints” for Effective Community Engagement prepared by the Urban Forum:

5.Communication, Communication, Communication, Communication, Communication x 10. Show what has been achieved – it’s not just about doing, it’s about letting people know how things are going. Make sure you let people know what is going on – information is always the first stage. Two-way dialogue is critical to any change process.

Handy Hints for Community Engagement – Day 4

This is the fourth in a series of 10 daily “Handy Hints” for Effective Community Engagement prepared by the Urban Forum:

4. It’s a marathon not a sprint. Delivering change and regenerating communities takes a long time. Be prepared for the long haul; everyone gets disheartened if things take forever to happen, but try to be realistic about how long things take too.

Handy Hints for Community Engagement – Day 2

This is the second in a series of 10 daily “Handy Hints” for Effective Community Engagement prepared by the Urban Forum:

2. Kill apathy as a concept. Despite a widespread belief that people aren’t interested, the reality is that they do care about the issues that affect them. Start where people are at, not where you want them to be.

Handy Hints for Community Engagement – Day 1

This is the first in a series of 10 daily “Handy Hints” for Effective Community Engagement prepared by the Urban Forum:

1. Built in, not bolted on. Effective community engagement means thinking about it at the outset. Involving people at every stage of the process can greatly improve the quality and sense of ownership with what’s happening.

How Your Council Works – Community Guide

Available from Urban Forum Website

How Your Council Works: A Handy Guide for Community Groups has been produced by a collection of partners (Urban Forum, NAVCA, IDeA and The National Empowerment Partnership) to explain the workings and typical structures of local authorities.

The document was referred to in the recently published Communities in Control. It gives the legal lowdown on what councils must do in order to engage with communities and the general public.

The document, perhaps controversially to some, re-enforces a local council’s leading role in its Local Strategic Partnership.

“While it is for the partners as a whole to decide how the
LSP should be run, the Government believes that local
councils should take a leading role. This is because they
represent, through the local councillors, democratic
accountability to local people. There are also a number of
specific legal roles that councils and elected members play
that make this LSP leadership role important”

Community Leadership, Page 17.

Click the image to take you to the Urban Forum website where you can download or order the document.

Communities in Control…Frequently Asked Questions

The Urban Forum (see Blogroll link in right hand column) have produced a very useful Frequently Asked Questions guide to the Government’s Communities in Control Document. This is available from their website or by clicking the link above which opens a PDF document.

This is particularly good because it gives suggestions on how you might get involved in this emerging Government agenda.

Is this CEN-sible? Asks Urban Forum leader

Toby Blume, Chief Executive of the Urban Forum wrote a biting article last month about the withdrawal of funding from CENs (Community Empowerment Networks). It is being reproduced by Blackpool SURF today in light of the recent publication of the Government’s Communities in Control which is the forthcoming document mentioned in the article below. The full article can be obtained by clicking as indicated, which will open the online document stored on Box.net:

Community Empowerment Networks face funding cuts averaging 40% according to research Urban Forum has just published. What’s the problem, you might ask?

When they were set up in 2001 as part of the Government’s Neighbourhood renewal strategy (in the 88 most deprived areas), CENs were intended to support community engagement in Local Strategic Partnerships. That aim is no longer confined to neighbourhood renewal areas but reflected in law with the new Duty to Involve on local authorities; and in national policy with an Empowerment Action Plan and forthcoming Empowerment White Paper…… (for more – click here to open actual document).